Posted on: Wednesday, October 6, 2004
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Sandwich days of our youth
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
The pork-and-beans sandwich theme we've been pursuing has given rise to discussion of other sandwiches — or "sammiches," as reader Lisa Baxa called them.
Lisa Young-Langit wrote with beautiful memories of days at the beach with her father, a "no-frills" kind of guy who would bring a can of beans and a loaf of bread along and call it a picnic. "Here we were, dripping with saltwater, little bit sand on our hands( no germ-conscious freak telling us to wash our hands), no plates, and just grinding our pork-and-beans sandwich like it was the best thing we ever tasted. And here I thought my dad invented the pork-and-beans sandwich."
Sandriana Hulleman who grew up in Kaimuki, e-mailed from afar to recall a small-kid-time treat of butter, sugar and cinnamon on Love's white bread.
Laura B. Martin Robley of 'Aiea recalled four sandwich types:
Meredith Prock of Honolulu wrote, "I loved Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup sandwiches — toast your bread, heat the soup, drain the broth, spread remainder on toast. 'Ono!.
"My dad — but not me — liked onion sandwiches. Slice onion, soak in vinegar with a little salt and pepper. Put between two pieces of bread. He loved it."
Bob Douglas, a friend of my family on Maui, wrote to describe a popular sandwich from his Southern roots, fried bologna on white bread with mustard and sliced dill pickles. "My favorite was to mix Miracle Whip with mustard, pickles and lots of black pepper. Another favorite way was to use Kraft salad dressing — mayo with something like pickle relish in it.
"If you were lucky enough to find thick-sliced baloney, it was even better. One thing you had to do, however, was to cut the slits in the outside of each slice to keep it flat when frying or the middle would bubble up.
"We also had Vienna sausages rolled up in white bread, tomato sandwiches with the sandwich spread, or pickle sandwiches."
Guess you can put about anything between a couple of slices of bread — and in poorer, simpler times, people did.
